Curiosity

"By the way, how's your allergy?" Homura asked, sounding concerned.

In the next moment, he saw her face darkened.

"Rin hasn't seen any other cats lately..." Rin muttered with sadness.

"..."

"No doubt about it! It's definitely the school's fault!" Rin exclaimed, frustration evident in her voice.

It was understandable.

Muse had been fighting tirelessly for their school, but the result? None of them had any free time left, so it was only natural that Rin didn't have time to search and meet other cats.

However, even if she did, Hanayo and Honoka would probably worry and prevent her, though Rin likely had her own worries as well. If her allergy made her sick and caused her to miss the performance, she would likely blame herself.

Needless to say, it was an unspoken agreement among them.

"Long time no see, everyone!" Homura greeted as he approached Muse's girls.

"Long time no see... eh, wait?" Honoka scratched her head. "Have we really not seen Homura-kun for that long?"

Upon hearing her question, several girls rolled their eyes.

On the other hand, Homura nodded seriously.

"Yep... Let's see, our last meeting was at the end of Golden Week, which was May 7th, right? Now it's May 18th, so it's been over ten days, isn't that quite long?"

"It really has been a long time! Time seems to pass by quickly!" Honoka couldn't help but nod in agreement.

"Well, everyone's been practicing every day, after all. When we're so immersed, we don't notice the passage of time." " Kotori chimed in.

"That's why, with all this effort, we must be full of confidence!" Honoka replied.

Hearing Honoka's words, the other eight exchanged smiles.

They might not be overflowing with confidence, but they definitely had it!

"Let's not talk about us for now." Nozomi grinned mischievously. "How about we hear about Homura-kun's recent news?"

"Me? Do I have anything interesting to share?" Homura shrugged. "You can find out what I'm up to on my blog, website, or wherever."

"That's true..." Nozomi nodded, then asked. "But there's still one question."

'One question? What could it be? Are they asking about that thing I haven't mentioned yet? Well, if they want to know, they can ask.' Homura pondered for a second before speaking up. "Go ahead and ask, Nozomi-senpai."

"Why has the game's release date been delayed?"

Upon hearing Nozomi's question, Homura instantly understood that she was indeed very intelligent, having noticed something from that news.

"Because I'm preparing for a signing event tomorrow." Homura offered a normal answer.

However, Nozomi shook her head.

"Others might believe that, but I don't. Isn't it Ayano-san who usually takes care of your signing events?"

"Well, about that..." Homura grinned mischievously. "It's a secret!"

Everyone: "..."

"Come on, is it that hard to accept my goodwill?" Homura said straightforwardly. "Once your school open day finishes, even if you don't ask me, I'll tell you anyway."

"We were thinking the same thing. We know you're probably afraid we'll get distracted, but... this curiosity of wanting to know what we don't know, Homura-kun, you must understand what I mean, right?" Eli finally spoke up.

"..." Homura was speechless.

Why was their curiosity so strong?

However, he agreed that sometimes, not knowing something was more frustrating than knowing.

The most common example was hiding an illness, a serious one at that.

For example, a patient clearly had cancer, already in the late stages, with all the symptoms showing, yet the family stubbornly kept it a secret from the patient. It only made the patient increasingly suspicious and anxious, leading to a rapid health decline.

Although it was related to excessive anxiety, was it really okay to keep it hidden?

Naturally, everyone had their own reason to not tell.

What Homura was currently contemplating was whether not telling them would keep them preoccupied and distracted over the next few days. If they lost focus during their performance, it would pose a major problem.

After thinking about it carefully, Homura regretted coming here today. Perhaps if he hadn't come, the girls wouldn't have had these kinds of thoughts.

Letting out a sigh, Homura spoke up.

"Just a few days left, and you're already giving me a hard time..."

Upon hearing his words, Kotori felt a bit embarrassed.

It was she who had shared her speculations with everyone before, making them more and more curious about the truth. Normally, she could suppress her thoughts, but as soon as she heard that Homura was coming, she couldn't contain herself!

Looking at all the eager gazes, Homura felt a bit strange.

It was almost as if they were waiting to be fed like hungry chicks.

Shaking his head to dismiss useless thought, Homura continued.

"Alright, your guesses were correct... The reason for the game's delay is to buy time for all of you."

The girls had already guessed something, so his words didn't really surprise them.

"You should remember when I said I needed your help with something." Homura went on.

The girls nodded, having anticipated this development as well. 

"I want all of you to become the voice actors for the game."

"..."

"Eh?" Honoka's mouth hung open.

""Eh?!!!""

All the girls shouted in unison.

Feeling his ears ringing, Homura quickly covered them.

"See? I told you not to ask, but you insisted. Can you all still focus now?" Homura shrugged.

Nozomi shook her head with a wry smile.

"It's hard to say... We knew you had something important to discuss, but we didn't expect it to be this important."

"Voice actor... voice actor..." Hanayo mumbled, her eyes shining brighter. "We're becoming more like a professional idol!"

"Yeah!" Nico nodded enthusiastically. "Many idols do voice acting for games and anime, and it's not rare for some voice actors to become idols either. Idols and voice actors are closely related!"

"We've never done anything like this before..." Maki said calmly. "I don't think it's going to be that easy."

Her words instantly sobered everyone up.

"Maki is right." Umi chimed in. "With Homura-kun and his circle's swiftness, the game will probably be finished soon, right? Even if we delay it by a few days, it might not be enough."

"So, are we going to give up, nyaa?" Rin chimed in.

"But..." Kotori hesitated. "Homura-kun has come all this way for us. Is it really okay for us to give up so easily?"

Nico was also reluctant.

After all, anything related to idols, she wanted to be a part of!

Meanwhile, as the girls exchanged thoughts and opinions, Honoka remained silent.

Observing Honoka's behavior, Homura smiled.

"Everyone..." Honoka finally spoke up. "Thinking about it now won't help. What we need to prepare for is our upcoming performance, right?"

"You're right, but—"

Nico wanted to retort, but Honoka cut her off.

"Nico-chan, once we've completed this performance, we can think about what comes next."

Honoka lifted her head, radiating confidence.

"Whether we can do it or not, it's up to Homura-kun to decide! If he didn't have faith in us, he wouldn't have come and bought time for us!"

"So... after the school open day concludes..."

Honoka faced Homura.

"Our time after that is in Homura-kun's hands!"